Discussion

prime rib-help

i'm making prime rib for christmas eve. my husband bought a roast with a fat cap on a very small portion of the top. is this a problem? is there a solution or should i cut it up for steaks and buy another roast?

Oh. I guess I misunderstood. You were saying you expected a larger fat cap? I agree that the fat cap can add flavor, but so much depends on the roast. Is it choice or prime? How many ribs? How were you planning to cook it? I would think the size of the fat cap a lesser issue.

One of the things that adds significantly to prime "grade" ribs & loins is a very thick heavy fat cap. Even top choice will usually have a pretty significant fat cap. For these high quality grades you usually pay for it with the fat cap on and then its trimmed off at your request/expense. I suspect you may have gotten a lower select grade roast. The fat cap will also vary from 1st cut through end cut.

For a special X-Mas dinner, I personally would splurge for a real nice well marbled top choice roast from a private butcher. When you think about how much work goes into the "entire" meal from start to finish a few extra bucks may well be worth it.